Factors Governing Teacher-Taught Relationship

The following are the factors governing the teacher-taught relationship

1. Age: The distinction of age creates respect on the part of the younger and leadership on the part of the elder. In teacher-taught relationships, the distinction of age is inverse to the level of education. Thus it is maximum at the primary level and minimum at the university level. The bigger age gap allows for the development of teacher-taught relationships based on respect, fear, and reverence. The smaller age gap makes for more intimacy, love, affection, and more interaction between teachers and taught.

2. Teacher’s Status: In some societies the hereditary status of the teacher is high. He is an all-knowing and infallible person. He may punish or reward according to his judgment. In modern democratic societies, the authority of the teacher is eroded along with the authority of the administrator. Therefore, there are more interactions in the present-day institutions in comparison to the institutions of the ancient past.

3. Status and Attitude of Knowledge: If these are marked by a certain finality the teacher wields more authority over the students. If these are tentative and probable, as it is today, the authority of the teacher is proportionately eroded.

4. Mode of Acquiring Knowledge: Formerly, the teacher’s words were unquestionable. He commanded total loyalty. Today, however, the mode of obtaining knowledge is numerous, tentative, and creative. Therefore, the teacher-taught relationship has become more informal, less based upon fear, and more intimate.

5.  Image of the Teacher in Society: Formerly, the image of the teacher was almost the highest in society. Therefore, even the princes used to touch the feet of their teachers. If a scholar came to a court even the king left his seat. Today with the contractual system of education, the teacher is a professional person if not a poor member of society. With the destruction of the image of the teacher in society, the interaction between the teacher and taught has significantly changed.

6. The Self-image of the Teacher and the Student: The self-image of the student’s teacher is a professional person delivering goods, making out his living, and at most pursuing knowledge. He is one among equals, never higher and occasionally even lower. The self-image of the student, on the other hand, is no more of a submissive discipline obeying his teacher but an individual making the best of education to further his aim in life.

7.  Role of the Teacher: The teacher-taught relationships change according to changes in the teacher’s role in education. Formerly, he was independent and sovereign. Today he is subordinate and dependent upon the management, the government, the wider community, and even the student. This role again changes on various levels of education such as primary, secondary, and university. This role again is governed by personal traits, seniority, qualifications, cadre, economic condition, and innumerable other factors. The educational sociologist analyses the change of role and the consequent changes in teacher-taught relationships.

8. Mode of Standardization: As most educational institutions today receive financial aid, the government lays down uniform modes of standardization regarding the syllabi, the teaching methods, and the evaluation techniques at various levels of education. Sometimes there is an examining body governing all the students in a state.

 

References: Sociology of Education by S.S. Chandra & R. K. Sharma